Riback admits to sex abuse, will serve no more prison time

Riback, once given 48 years for abusing kids, out of prison in plea deal

ROBERT GAVIN Staff write, Times Union

By ROBERT GAVIN Staff writer

Published 6:00 pm, Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Phillip Riback in Albany County Court in December 2009, after the Court of Appeals overturned his conviction of sexually abusing his young patients as a pediatric neurologist. Riback pleaded guilty to first-degree sex abuse on Jan. 5, 2011, and will serve no more time in prison. (Skip Dickstein/Times Union)

ALBANY -- A former pediatric neurologist once sentenced to 48 years in prison for sexually abusing young patients in Colonie will not spend any more time behind bars under a plea deal reached Wednesday.

Riback, formerly of Slingerlands, also must register as a convicted sex offender. He will lose his license to practice medicine and cannot reapply for it. And for the next decade he will be on sex offender probation, under which his residence and work will be monitored and limited, according to District Attorney David Soares, who in a statement hailed the end of an "era of denial by this defendant."

Soares, not in his position at the time of the case, still cast blame on his predecessor, Paul Clyne.

"A prosecutor is able to strike hard blows, but they are not at liberty to strike foul ones. By opening the door to this case again after seven years we have witnessed devastating effects to the victims," Soares stated. "The irreparable harm caused by the errors of the prior administration has validated our resolve to provide the best services to all victims, and prosecute cases as ethically as possible to ensure other families never have to experience the trauma we have witnessed in this case. As prosecutors we are supposed to seek and find justice for victims of crime, not revictimize our victims by opening up wounds that have only just begun to heal."

In the statement, Colonie Police Chief Steven Heider said, "It's the right result at the right time. This plea spares the victims from having to endure the criminal justice process for a second time, and ensures Mr. Riback will be monitored by the criminal justice system for years to come."

The plea deal is a drastic change for a defendant who initially faced decades more in state prison under a 48-year sentence given in 2004. In December 2008, however, the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court trimmed his sentence to 20 years.

It found his 48-year term had been too extreme given that Riback was previously offered a 5- to 7-year sentence to conclude the case.

Then in December 2009, the state Court of Appeals overturned his convictions on 28 charges, which included first-degree sodomy, sexual abuse, forcible touching, course of sexual conduct against a child and child endangerment.

The court found Herrick should not have allowed prosecutors to allow an expert witness, Dr. Richard Hamill, to define the term "pedophilia" and the "central characteristics" of a pedophile to the jury.

It ruled Hamill's testimony "became a springboard" for then-Assistant District Attorney Peter Torncello, now the Albany County public defender, to launch into a series of "improper comments" in his closing argument, including calling Riback a pedophile.

Prior to his arrest, Riback was considered among the area's best physicians in treating children with brain disorders.

He practiced at Upstate Neurology Consultants on Atrium Drive in Colonie when he was arrested in November 2002.

By 2004, when his case went to trial in Albany, additional victims came forward. They brought new allegations of bizarre behavior such as him forcing children to pretend to spit on him.

The allegations covered incidents between 1997 and late 2002. Riback would ask mothers to leave the exam rooms, authorities said, then abuse the children.